The Fluvian Plague
by Ford.Ye.Fiji
Summary: The Doctor is sick. Really, really, sick. Like, magic golden flower sick. Amy, Rory, and River take care of him. A fez makes a emotional appearance. Also, Clara and the Twelfth Doctor show up for a surprise appearance. Angst, Doctor Whump, and some Fluff. Please review! Disclaimer: I don't own it... Yet.


**A/N: I know! I need to update my other stories! I've just hit a bump in 'The Return of Donna Noble.' Sorry. This first part is mostly why its rated T, just skip till you see the line break if it's to much. Anyway, on to the fanfiction! Geronimo!**

The dark poured in and latched to him. It sucked the life out of him, the voices screamed and wailed putting him down and wounding him with words. They pulled and tugged. He lashed out trying to free himself, begging for release pleading to them- (just kill me!) but they always laughed and kicked him again.

(It was his fault, all his fault) people he had known and loved, (Leela, Romana, Mickey, Susan, Jo, Barbra, Ian, Harry, Rose, Sarah Jane, River, Donna, Martha, Amy, Rory, Ace, the Brigadier...) on and on, yelling at him and asking him (why?! Why did you do this to us?!) and mingled with their voices were the heat of the flames and bombs and screams of terror and words, (Exterminate!) and then, horrible horrible blackness as over twelve billion people were killed in a Moment, with a Moment- by the Moment. And finally he broke and cried out through sobs, (I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I know, it's my fault! I'm so, so sorry) but the dead were not forgiving.

They advanced close upon his helpless shaking form and stared at him with dead and lifeless eyes. Their hair was dry like stalks of wheat, their skin withered and cracked, their lifeless eyes like glassy marbles and their dead fingers clawed and grabbed at him, trying to pull him down in his misery and nightmares. Billions and billions and billions and billions...

They tore at him and just like that he was falling down, down, down into the dark. Where he heard the moans and wails again and they _never_ stopped! They wouldn't stop! He was sorry! He was _so, so_ _ **sorry**_ _!_

 **DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW**

River pressed another cold cloth to the Doctor's forehead, as he shivered and moaned. His eyes were shut tight and his skin was at a high and unsafe temperature.

"Shh, shh, shh." She crooned softly as she dabbed at his forehead again.

His floppy hair was matted and stuck to his sweaty and feverish skin as he tossed and turned. Amy pushed the door open and set a tray of tea and Jammie Dodgers down next to River.

"How is he?"

"No better."

"You should rest. He won't get better if you wear yourself down taking care of him."

River shook her head of curls that were decidedly less bouncier than usual.

"No. I'm his wife. I'll sleep when he's out of danger."

"Rory and I can take care of him. You need to pop off to bed."

"No, he needs-"

"What he needs is his wife to be well-rested. Now, you get some sleep, a bite to eat, and let me and Rory manage for awhile. Rory's a nurse!"

"The Doctor is a _Timelord_."

Amelia sighed. "I didn't want to have to pull this card, but fine. I'm your mother, now go to bed!"

River glared but she rose shakily (still managing to be dignified) and stepped past her mother and then out of the room. Amelia sighed and plunked down next to the whimpering form of her Raggedy Doctor.

"Oh, Doctor, why did you have to and catch the Fluvian Plague? But, no... You just _had_ to get that sick family out and you just _had_ to get sneezed on, then of course, you were all stubborn and didn't tell us you were ill. Idiot. Then you refused medical care! You'd better get better Raggedy Man! You owe it to me for all the trouble you've put me through!"

Amelia's voice cracked in the middle of her rant and she sobbed quietly into the bed sheets. "Raggedy Man, please wake up. _Please."_

Rory nudged the door open with a fresh bowl of water and medicine.

"Amy?" He asked tentatively as he set down the bowl. Amelia shook her head and kept her face buried in her palms. He knelt beside her chair and, turning her hidden face in his direction, carefully pried Amelia's hands away for her.

"Oh, Amy." He said sadly as it revealed red eyes and a tear streaked face. "Come here."

Amelia fell into his arms and cried. "I d- don't know i- if he'll g- get better! He's so sick! Rory w- what if h- he dies?!"

"You know he'll bounce back, Amy, he's always going on and on about his _amazing_ Timelord biology."

His soothing voice coupled with soft comforting stroking of her ginger hair calmed Amy considerably. When Rory deemed his wife had stopped crying he gave her a concerned look at her stricken face. Amy sniffed and then began to speak, trying to regain a sense of normality.

"God, Rory, sorry. I'm Scottish. I shouldn't be blubbering like that." Amy tried to laugh but it came out sounding more like a hiccup.

"Everybody needs to let out a little steam sometime. Even if they're Scottish." Rory said reproachfully.

Amy giggled and this time it sounded more like a genuine laugh and less hysterical. Rory nodded and stood back up to get the medicine and water. This was going to be a long haul.

 **DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW**

River's brow furrowed in worry and she clutched her husband's hand tighter when he choked out a strangled 'I'm sorry!' Amelia was sipping her tea in a chair next to River's and dabbing the Doctor's forehead with a cloth periodically. Rory, next to the bed, was mixing another batch of the rare cure to the fever know as the Fluvian Plague.

River, however, was the first to notice that the Doctor had stopped moaning. For a second River was scared that he had died and her face whitened. However, as River's stiff fingers fumbled to find the Doctor's pulse in his wrists, the Doctor's lids cracked open a tiny bit and he murmured a word.

"Doctor?" River asked hesitantly.

This was the most coherent he had been since the fever had begun raging in his body over a week ago.

"R- River?"

Amy almost dropped the cloth she had been holding. Rory had paused too and was staring at the Timelord hopefully.

"Yes, Sweetie?"

"I- It hurts River. It hurts so much."

"I know. I know, but it's almost over my love and soon you'll be back to normal."

"R- River..."

The man seemed to be struggling to say something but his other hand ghosted over his neck and he blinked at her blurred form worriedly.

"River, w- what have you done with my b- bow tie?"

Amelia giggled in relief taking this as a sign that the Doctor was going to be okay.

"It's safe. We took it off because you were burning up." River said with a hint of warmth creeping into her affectionate words.

"P- promise not to shoot it like m- my fez?"

"Of course, I'll even buy you a new fez when you get better."

"R- really?" His lips twisted into a form of a grin. "C- cross your hearts?"

"Cross 'em." River said solemnly while doing it.

Rory started at the thought of River buying a fez for the Doctor. It was a bad sign. She was desperate.

 **DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW**

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

The old silver fob watch on the Doctor's desk ticked away unceasingly.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

The sleeping Amy turned her head on the other side. The Doctor muttered and pulled his fingers from Amelia's unconscious grasp. Her brow furrowed in her sleep but it smoothed away when her other hand found the Doctor's again. She breathed in and out slowly giving the suffocatingly hot room a peaceful atmosphere. The TARDIS's fans kicked on and lowered the room to a more comfortable temperature. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. The sound continued menacingly.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock...

Tick...

Tick...

Tick...

The clock stopped and Amy jolted upright. Something was wrong. A panicked bonging hum burst through the TARDIS and Amelia finally figured it out. The Doctor's slow steady breaths had stopped.

"Rory! RORY! _RORY!_ "

Amelia attempted to begin CPR but she had no clue if she was doing it right or not.

 _ **"RORY!"**_

Rory jolted awake from his fitful slumber and he pounded into the Doctor's room which the TARDIS had conveniently moved to opposite the Pond's bedroom. Amy stopped shouting and moved over for Rory to begin.

"He's got two hearts!" Amelia reminded her husband almost hysterically.

River came through the door with her curly hair all bunched into a strange position from sleeping. She saw the dilemma immediately.

"I'll get the defibrillators!" River said and she shot from the room with her skimpy nightgown flapping by her knees.

Rory kept pounding on the Doctor's hearts alternating between his left and his right.

"Amy! Breath for me please!"

Amy nodded and pulling herself together began to try and force breath into the Doctor's lungs. River reappeared with a portable defibrillator.

"Dad! Here!" Rory took the paddles and shouted, "Clear!" He brought them down and the electrical current surged and the Doctor bounced. Rory did this another two times and finally the Doctor's hearts began beating again.

River sighed in relief and only then did Rory realize that he was only in his jim-jam bottoms.

 **DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW**

The Doctor was beginning to get better. He was sitting up and eating things, mostly soups, but one can't complain. He even managed to find the strength to make quips about Rory's nose and his inability to make tea. River and Amy took this as a sure sign that the Doctor was firmly set on the road to recovery.

Amelia was delighted when the Doctor managed to hold down an entire banana and to even ask for some toast. River would sit next to her husband and read to him for hours. They went through the entirety of the Harry Potter series within a week. When the Doctor was well enough to be insisting that he wear his bow tie and eating bowls of fish fingers and custard, Rory deemed him well enough to be off the medicine.

Within two months since the fever had started on its path to destruction, the little slap-shod family on board the TARDIS had their first adventure since the fever began. It was a little dull, subdued, and there was less running and less shooting but at least it was not in the long corridors of the TARDIS. By the time the second adventure rolled around, the Doctor's and the Ponds rooms were back to their normal places around the TARDIS. The second adventure was life threatening and everything was back to normal.

Afterwards, River left with her vortex manipulator and when she returned a bright red fez was placed on the console with a yellow sticky note and the words, "I promise not to shoot this one, Sweetie... Yet. Love, River xoxo."

Amy did not comment on the fez perched jauntily on the Doctor's head.

Neither did Rory.

 **DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW**

Clara sneezed as she pulled something red from a trunk.

"What the?"

She held the thing in her hand warily and turned it round. She shrugged and jogged back to the console when the Doctor's gruff voice called for her. She did not realize she was still holding the fez. The Doctor's eyes widened when he saw it and he snatched it from Clara's grasp.

"Where did you get this?" He asked grumpily, his strong Scottish accent spilling over.

"Found it. Is it yours?" He glared at her but mumbled an answer that sounded like yes.

The fez and his warning look did not invite conversation. Clara pretended not to notice it later when it appeared on his head later that day. She also wondered why he was stroking a battered sticky note that she caught him staring at tearfully.

She hoped one day he would tell her, but in the meantime she could only wonder and appreciate the fez that seemed to beaming happily at her from where it belonged on the Doctor's silver-haired head.


End file.
